Lionel Messi started playing the semi-final against Canada before he even went out onto the pitch. He did it in the privacy of the locker room. Once again with a special speech, which motivated his teammates even more. There was a message that the number 10 wanted to give. It involved a friend, a partner in multiple football adventures. And he felt it with his heart…
Rodrigo De Paul, upon leaving the locker room, recounted in detail everything the captain had said: “Leo always has very precise words. Today he touched on that point that he obviously knew would motivate us much more.”
The Atlético midfielder went into more detail: “Leo told us that Fide’s last game had to be in a final. And that we could all do it together. Well, we did. Fide is going to retire as he deserves, playing one more final.” Fide is Fideo. He is Angel Di María, of course.
In that same response, De Paul took the opportunity to emphasize: “Di María’s legacy is eternal. It is the one of the goals in the finals, the one who broke the wall, the one who deserves all kinds of recognition. One of the greatest to wear our shirt. For me it has been a huge honor to walk this path alongside him, to have won titles. I hope we can crown Fide in this Copa America final. We will try once again. There are very few players who have the power to decide when the end is. I am very happy that he decides it. He has earned that power of decision. Surely he has thought about it a lot, talked about it a lot with his family. He went through a lot of moments. What better than for him to leave like this. I enjoyed it from the first day. In this Cup we touched very little on the subject. We decided to enjoy and laugh. He knows that we love him and we want it to be eternal. But it is a very personal decision. And whatever he decides is fine.”
After De Paul’s message, Enzo Fernández appeared in the mixed zone and returned to Messi’s speech: “Leo said some very moving words and we came out very motivated. We wanted to help Fide so that he leaves the national team playing in a final.”
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Shortly afterwards, Leo passed by the same place. He had spoken before in different places, but he stopped there again to speak. And he referred to his motivational message. However, true to his style of naturalizing everything, the captain put it into perspective: “I don’t remember the truth… They are words that come out, that we feel. I don’t even remember exactly what I said.” He was pressed and added some questions: “I remember that I spoke about Fide, about enjoying it, about trying to play one more final, that we value everything we are doing, that it is not easy to achieve what was achieved, a little bit of all that.” And Argentina, Messi and Di María will play another final.
